


domestic life (was never quite my style)

by imposterhuman



Series: pepperony drabbles [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, Children, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Found Families, Gen, Parent Pepper, Parent Tony, Pepperony - Freeform, morgan stark - Freeform, pepper loves it, tony adopts strays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 08:06:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18311573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: Pepper had never really wanted children. Most of her life had been spent chasing her ambition, climbing ladder after ladder in a cutthroat world. She was distinctly not maternal, at least in the traditional sense.Sometimes, she imagined having a baby, a little piece of both her and Tony, and she wanted. But she looked at her life, looked at Tony’s life, and knew that it wasn’t feasible.





	domestic life (was never quite my style)

**Author's Note:**

> word- "children"
> 
> enjoy!

Pepper had never really wanted children. Most of her life had been spent chasing her ambition, climbing ladder after ladder in a cutthroat world. She was distinctly  _ not  _ maternal, at least in the traditional sense.

 

Sometimes, she imagined having a baby, a little piece of both her and Tony, and she  _ wanted _ . But she looked at her life, looked at Tony’s life, and knew that it wasn’t feasible.

 

That didn’t mean, though, that she didn’t have kids. Harley and Peter were her sons in all but blood, after all. They called themselves her kids, even though they had their own lives and families separate from her orbit.

 

Harley had showed up after the Mandarin fiasco with a potato gun and an attitude. She hadn’t known who he was, just that he was insisting he and Tony had a connection. She had been seconds from calling security when JARVIS had opened the elevators and invited Harley to Tony’s lab. Pepper had followed, slack-jawed, and watched Tony smile for real as he greeted the kid.

 

_ “Pep!” Tony said, gesturing her over. “Meet Harley Keener.” _

 

_ “Is there a Miss Keener I should know about?” she asked, arching an eyebrow. _

 

_ “Nah,” Harley answered. “I met Tony when he broke into my shed and broke my town.” _

 

_ “He has a habit of doing that,” Pepper nodded sagely as Tony spluttered. _

 

_ “I fixed it!” he defended. “And I didn’t even do most of the breaking!” _

 

_ “Agree to disagree,” Harley shot back. “You broke my sister’s watch.” _

 

_ “Technically, terrorists did that,” said Tony. “I bear no responsibility. In fact, I tried to stop them.” _

 

_ Pepper knew enough about Tony to know that their banter could last for hours, going in circles about petty things. The kid might enjoy that, but she certainly wouldn’t. She clapped her hands loudly, drawing their attention. _

 

_ “Do your parents know you’re here, Harley?” she asked, trying to be the responsible adult. _

 

_ Harley shrugged. “Mom said I could come, and Dad’s not around,” he said nonchalantly. _

 

_ Suddenly, his imprinting on Tony made more sense. Especially because Pepper knew how he was around strays. “You’re welcome to stay, then,” she said, earning a  blinding smile for herself. _

 

_ “Thanks, Miss Potts,” the boy said shyly. _

 

_ “Call me Pepper.” _

 

_ “How come she gets respect?” Tony interrupted, bursting their bubble. “You called me Mechanic when we first met! Where’s my,  _ thanks, Mr. Stark _? I’m older than her, hasn’t anyone ever taught you to respect your elders?” Tony made a face and everyone was laughing. _

 

_ And that was that; Pepper knew that Harley was going to be a part of their lives. _

 

Pepper loved Harley, much to Tony’s smug satisfaction. The boy was like Tony in that he was wont to get lost in engineering binges and drink too much coffee, but it was Pepper who he echoed. His temper was like hers, hot but calculated, and they both had more ambition and cunning than most. If Pepper had wanted a son, she would have wanted a boy like Harley; smart as a whip and quick witted, but gentle and sweet at heart (Harley vehemently protested that characterization, but Pepper had his measure after tucking him in on late nights). He trailed after Tony like a baby duckling, making something in Pepper ache with longing.

 

But if Harley had convinced her of anything, it was that she and Tony didn’t live a life for children. Harley had come from disaster; he had only met Tony because someone  _ blew up their house _ . Extremis had been one of many crises in the Potts-Stark household (and could she call it that? Tony hadn’t proposed; neither of them had brought up marriage, just assuming they’d be together forever without a ring or a ceremony); how could she knowingly endanger an infant? Tony had given up Iron Man, sort of, but they still weren’t  _ safe _ . She imagined their house blowing up with a baby in a cradle in an unreachable room and took her birth control pill.

 

Tony, though, adopted strays like nobody’s business. Pepper suspected that he wanted to be a father, but was terrified of ending up like Howard. He had confided in her enough puzzle pieces that she could form an image of Tony’s childhood; she knew that he could never,  _ ever  _ be that cruel. Peter Parker had come into their lives after so much pain and suffering that Pepper wanted to curse every god in the book.

 

_ Pepper screamed when the red blob hit the window. In an instant, her delicate wrist watch had become a rose gold gauntlet. _

 

_ “Who are you?” she demanded, hand shaky but aim true. _

 

_ “Sorry!” the voice couldn't have been older than a teenager. “Sorry, wrong window!” _

 

_ “Is there a  _ right  _ window?” she asked, arching an eyebrow. Pepper could play unimpressed with the best of them. _

 

_ “Mr. Stark told me to come to his floor,” he explained. “But I miscounted the windows.” _

 

_ “Who are you, again?” she asked. _

 

_ The boy took off his red mask; she was right, he looked about fifteen. “Peter Parker,” he said apologetically. “And you’re Miss Potts, right? If you’re not, Mr. Stark is going to be so mad at me. I’m not really supposed to take the mask off, you see…” _

 

_ Pepper was hopelessly charmed by his rambling. “Come in,” she said finally, cracking the window. “It’s chilly out. You can take the elevator up to see Tony.” _

 

_ “Thank you,” said Peter, clambering in. When he stood, he was as tall as her, but lanky in the way teenagers were. She had the odd urge to squish his cheeks, but she didn’t think he’d appreciate it much. _

 

_ “So,” she led him to her private elevator. “How do you know Tony?” _

 

_ “Funny story, actually,” Peter grinned shyly. “He was kind of waiting in my living room one day?” _

 

_ Fondness hit Pepper like a wave and she knew that this kid was a keeper, too. _

 

If Harley was like her, then Peter was like Tony. He was a genius, too, in much the same way. The pair could often be found in the lab while her and Harley held court at SI. Together, they came up with crazy inventions designed solely to raise her blood pressure. (Pepper still hadn’t forgotten the rollerskates on Peter’s suit. The headlines had lasted for days when Tony had flown with Peter webbed to his hand, skating through the streets at high speeds). Pepper loved him like she loved Harley; like they were her sons.

 

When she thought of children, she wasn’t scared anymore. She thought of late nights with her boys, family dinners and laughter and even tears, and she wanted more. She wanted the little milestones, first steps and first words and everything in between. Unsurprisingly, Tony did, too. They talked about it, and Pepper threw out her birth control the very next day.

 

A year later, she looked down at the squirming bundle in her arms, her boys at her sides, and smiled down at her daughter. She had Pepper's red hair and Tony's warm eyes. She was everything Pepper wanted and more, gorgeous and perfect. Pepper thought her heart was going to burst with love; one glance at Tony showed that he was much the same.

 

Pepper reached down a finger that her baby grabbed onto immediately. “Hello, Morgan,” she whispered, happy tears in her eyes. “Welcome to the world, baby girl.”

**Author's Note:**

> your comments and kudos mean the world to me!!


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